


Wake Me Up

by iamaloserkid



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Hospital, Hospitals, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-09
Updated: 2012-12-09
Packaged: 2017-11-20 17:08:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/587749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamaloserkid/pseuds/iamaloserkid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis Tomlinson was a male nurse at a hospital. One day a guy was brought in who was in a coma. No one knew his ID, so no one visited him. Something pulled Louis to the guy. He felt like everyone needed company and though the guy was in a coma, he needed someone beside him too. All Louis wanted to do was help the guy and wake him up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wake Me Up

**Author's Note:**

> I posted this one shot a while ago on my [Tumblr](http://iamaloserkid.tumblr.com/post/30725090205/wake-me-up-one-shot) . I checked it again for mistakes (could still have typos) and now post it here. I hope you like it!

One place where you could always find Louis Tomlinson was at the hospital. No, he wasn’t sick or anything, he was just caring person. The 21-year old nurse was in his last year of college and worked at St. Thomas Hospital. Many people hated hospitals but Louis liked it. It was the place where lives were being saved and lives were being built. Though he was only a nurse, he still felt important at the hospital. He may have been one of the most caring nurses at the hospital. He’d be always there to get you something to drink, to fluff your pillow, to get some food or to simply have a nice conversation with. It may not have been his job to talk to the patients, but it was what he liked to do. And the doctors and other nurses at the hospitals accepted it, because the patients lit up when Louis entered their room. One day, Louis was at the desk looking through some papers when an ambulance arrived. He looked at the door, curious as to who would come through the doors. He then heard some noise and the doors opened. In running came a couple of paramedics with a stretcher. On it he saw a guy who wasn’t moving at all. In a second they were gone again and Louis stared after the paramedics. He then looked back at the doors and waited for it to open again to reveal family or friends of the guy, but no one came in. Louis frowned and turned to the receptionist.

“Who just came in?” Louis asked.

“We don’t know. Someone saw him at the side of the road. He had no ID on him,” she answered.

“So, his family doesn’t know he’s here,” Louis said.

“No, sadly not.”

“Okay, thank you,” Louis said. He grabbed a couple of files of people he needed to visit and went to the ER. Outside he saw two doctors talking.

“Hi, excuse me. What’s wrong with the guy who just came in?” Louis asked.

“Oh, Louis. Don’t bother with this one, okay? He is not the person to care about,” one of the doctors said and went into the ER.

“What… what did he mean?” Louis asked confused.

“He meant you attach to people who you shouldn’t attach to,” the other doctor said. Doctor Payne was his name, Louis always quite liked him. He was in his last year and still very young, but he had a great future ahead of him. “Look, the guy probably isn’t going to make it. He got hit by a car and they found him at the side of the road. We don’t know how or why it happened. He had no ID on him, so we really don’t know anything about him. And his condition is critical right now. I need to go in, but please don’t get your hopes up, okay. Just continue your shift and go home,” Doctor Payne said squeezing Louis’ shoulder and went into the ER. Louis sighed and looked at his files. Well then, he would just have to do his round. He first went to mister Chester. He was an old man who had been struggling with cancer for over ten years now. It was the third time the cancer came back and this time it was very persistent.

“Hello mister Chester, how are you doing today?” Louis asked as he came in the room. The man was lying in bed reading the newspaper.

“Oh, hello son,” the old man smiled and folded the newspaper. He tried sitting up, but he was very weak so Louis helped him sit up, “Things are going okay. Woke up this morning without pain, so I have a feeling today is going to be a good day,” the old man smiled.

“That’s great, mister Chester,” Louis smiled and sat down next to the man, “I’m just going to go through the file for a moment,” Louis said and read quickly what he was meant to do. The file told him the man needed to get his medicine and that he was supposed to have a short walk today.

“Are you feeling strong enough to go to the garden for a walk today?” Louis asked.

“Yes, yes,” the man smiled.

“Alright, just let me grab your meds so you can take them and a walker and then we’ll be on our way! You’re lucky, mister Chester, the sun is shining brightly today!” Louis smiled and left the room.

***

Louis couldn’t help it. When he was done with his shift he walked past the ER. Seeing they were still operating on the guy, he couldn’t just leave. His feeling said he needed to stay. He knew doctor Payne said he probably wouldn’t make it. But what if he did? And what if he woke up, seeing he was all alone? Louis’ heart broke at the thought, so he sat down in the waiting room, grabbing a sandwich from his bag and he waited for the doctors to come out of the ER. He was sitting for fifteen minutes when he started to get bored. He grabbed one of the magazines and checked his watch every other minute. The guy was in the ER for 3 hours already. When he was sitting in the waiting room for 40 minutes he felt like going home. He sighed and was getting his stuff ready when the doors of the ER opened. He looked up and saw Doctor Payne.

“I expected you to be here,” he said.

“I was just getting ready to leave actually,” Louis said, “But how is he?”

“He is alive,” he said.

Louis breathed in relief and smiled. His expression then got serious, “do we know anything yet about who he is? Did he tell you his name?”

“No, because he is in a coma.”

“A coma? Will he be okay? He will wake up, right?” Louis said worried.

“He got hit in the head quite hard. It’s really a miracle he is not brain dead. We don’t know if he will ever wake up and if he does, we don’t know what he will remember and if he can even talk and walk.”

“O my… how old do you think he is?”

“We looked at his bones; we think he is about 18 or 19.”

Louis sat down gasping, “But… he’s so young! There is a mother somewhere out there, worrying about her son… I need to find out who he is.”

“Lou… don’t, okay. We got blood and DNA of him; we’re going to see if we have a match somewhere. Don’t get too caught up in this, okay? Just go home. If you really want you can visit him tomorrow.”

“Alright,” Louis said and stood up. He looked at Doctor Payne, “Thanks Liam.”

“It’s okay. Go get some rest; your days are way too long.”

Louis nodded and left the hospital.

***

The next day Louis arrived 20 minutes early at the hospital. This wasn’t such a weird thing, Louis was always early. But this time he had a reason. He was going to sit by Coma Guy’s bed. He needed to find a nickname for the guy, so he could call him something else than Coma Guy. But for him to find a nickname he needed to ‘know’ the guy. Maybe he looked like a Frank, a Billy or maybe a Diego. You could never really know. He dumped his bag in the lounge and looked for the room where Coma Guy rested. He walked in and sat on the chair next to the bed. He looked at the guy and couldn’t believe how young he looked.

“Hi,” Louis said and looked at the face of the guy, “I’m Louis. I’m a nurse here. Yes, I am a male nurse. Go and laugh,” Louis said and watched for a change of expression. Noting happened, “Um… I’ve heard that talking to people in a coma could help waking them up. So, I hope this may help.”

Louis looked at the room and saw it was completely empty. He hated it when the rooms were completely white.

“I’ll bring some flowers and some pictures tomorrow, so the room looks nice in case you wake up,” Louis said, “God, I seriously I have no idea what to say to you.” Louis sighed and looked at his hands. “And I don’t even know who you are. I don’t know your name. I think I’m just going to call you Curly. Because you have curly hair. That’s lame, isn’t it? A lot of people probably call you that. You do have nice hair though.”

Louis sat in silence again when his pager went off. He looked at it and saw he had to get to work.

“I have to go; I’ll be back in a couple of hours to eat my lunch here. Maybe the smell of food will wake you up. Sleep tight, Curly.”

***

Louis walked into Curly’s room with a sandwich and a cup of coffee. He carefully took a sip and let the caffeine run through his veins. “I’m so tired,” Louis mumbled, “I’ve been up since 4 am. It’s crazy, really. And now I can finally sit down and have some rest. I guess it’s my own fault. I work way too much. I know that, but I like it here. I like caring about people. Today I’m off at 3. But I’ll probably stay around till like 5 or something. I need a life.”

Louis didn’t think it was that weird talking to someone who wasn’t reacting. This way he could say whatever was on his mind and maybe it would even help waking Curly up.

“Do you like coffee? I don’t really like it. It just wakes me up. It has a pretty bad taste and once you’ve drunk coffee you smell really bad from your mouth. Seriously, it’s terrible. I don’t even know why I’m drinking it right now.” Louis put his coffee away and started on his sandwich.

“You know what my favorite sandwich is? Piri Piri Chicken. It’s amazing. But they don’t sell it here. And because I start so early I can’t buy it anywhere before work. So I’m stuck with this weird tuna stuff… I should maybe start bringing my own sandwiches,” Louis said and continued eating.

“So Curly, I’m so curious to who you are. I’m wondering what your name is and where you’re from and who your friends are and what you do. Do you go to college? Or do you work? I feel bad that I know nothing about you. The only company you have right now is me. And though I am sociable, I’m not really good at talking sense. I usually talk nonsense. It would be so embarrassing that once you wake up, you’ll remember everything I said and you’re like genius. Then I would feel really dumb. Or it would be hilarious if you can’t even speak English. If that’s the case you probably want to wake up really badly now to smack me and scream at me in a weird language. Though if you could speak Spanish or Italian, that would be awesome. They’re sexy languages. Okay that was maybe weird and awkward to say.” Louis rambled. He heard someone laughing and he looked at Curly to see if it was him.

“You’re so stupid.”

Louis didn’t see Curly move.

“Behind you.”

Louis turned around and saw Doctor Payne standing in the doorway.

“Talking to people in a coma could wake them up,” Louis said matter-of-factly.

“Yes. But I don’t think this will really help his brain get active.”

“Well, I’m sorry Doctor Payne. I just thought I’d keep Curly company. No one else is here to sit beside his bed.”

“You know you can call me Liam. And Curly? Whatever, I’m not going to bother.” Liam turned around and went back to whatever the hell his job was. Louis noticed Liam sometimes wandered around a bit, waiting for a job.

“Well, I think that was my sign to go back to work. I’ll come around after work, all right?” Louis said, “It’s not like you can say no or anything.” Louis threw his stuff away and looked back at the guy in the bed. He walked to the bed and made sure the blanket was laying over him and that he wouldn’t get cold.

“Sleep tight, Curly.”

***

“I hope you like gossip, and if you don’t you just got to suck it up,” Louis said and read an article in the latest Heat. “Ahw, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez are splitting up. I don’t think a lot of people saw that coming. I mean, of course they had their fights, but I thought they would keep trying,” Louis commented on the article. He had been visiting Curly for a week now and spent at least a week by his bed. The results of the tests for blood and DNA would come back a couple of days after. He really hoped there was a match.

There was still no change in his condition. He was still very much in coma and still very dead looking. Louis really hoped he would get better soon. First, talking to someone who didn’t react was kind of lame, and second, he felt really bad for the guy. They’ve investigated the scene after he got hit by the car and they asked around a bit and they police was almost certain he was already unconscious before the accident. So something must have happened before. There had to be a reason why he was unconscious at the side of the road. Louis was a very curious person and he had so many questions and he just wanted the answers.

“Hey Louis, I brought you a sandwich. Piri Piri Chicken, which I know you like,” Liam said as he entered the room. He tossed Louis the sandwich and sat at the other side of Curly’s bed.

“So, still no change?” Liam asked.

Louis sadly shook his head and started on the sandwich, “Thanks, by the way.”

“It’s cool. I was getting some food for myself, saw it, and remembered you saying you like it. Not a big deal.”

Louis sat quietly, eating his sandwich. He saw Liam thinking. He had this weird thinking face which always made Louis laugh. Seriously, if he looked like that while operating, then Louis would be really surprised if no one ever laughed at him.

“So… I’m Liam. Liam Payne. I’m a doctor here,” Liam then said and looked at Curly, “I kind of saved your life, I guess.”

“You guess? Mate, you totally saved his life.”

Liam blushed and shook his head and mumbled, “There were other doctors there.”

“Yeah, but you helped saving his life,” Louis said.

“Right,” Liam said and looked at Curly again, “Um… I don’t really know what to say.”

“Just talk. You don’t want to know how much nonsense I’ve told him,” Louis said while munching on his sandwich.

“Right,” Liam said. Louis could tell he was really nervous. He didn’t know why, though. Curly couldn’t even react or anything. He probably wouldn’t remember a thing once he woke up.

“I’m Liam. And I um, I like to help people, I guess. And I’m on my break right now. And I’m a bit bored. This is really mean for me to say, but it’s a slow day and wish more people would come in. Like I said, it’s mean. But it’s my job to save people, so for me to do that, there have to be people to be saved,” Liam said. The moment he finished talking his pager went off, “Ah, look at that. There is a life to be saved. I’ll go then, have a lot of fun with Louis over here,” Liam said and stood up. He squeezed Louis’ shoulder shortly before he left the room. It was quiet again as Louis finished his sandwich.

“Tomorrow I probably won’t be able to visit. I have school, because yes, I’m still in college. But what I mostly do is work on my internship here. For school I have to write a report about everything I’ve learned so far and I have an exam. I will probably nail it. But yeah, because of that I might not be able to visit.”

Louis stopped talking and hoped he maybe somehow would get a reaction.

“Alright… My break is almost over, so I’m going to get the files for this afternoon. I will see you the day after tomorrow and I’m going to bring a small radio, so you have something to listen to while you lay here,” Louis said and tucked Curly in so he wouldn’t get cold.

“Sleep tight, Curly.”

***

“Curly, I got a 9 for my exam! And an 8.5 for my report!” Louis said excitedly as he sat down next to Curly’s bed. He turned the radio a bit softer. “I knew I did well, but this is really amazing!”

Louis looked at both papers again. He was only a month into his last year, but if things would go that well for the rest of the year, he would get an amazing final grade.

“You know what I’m wondering, Curly. What you were studying, if you were even studying at all. You kind of seem like the artsy type. Maybe you were studying at a music academy and were you going to be an amazing violinist. Or maybe you were studying to become the next Picasso,” Louis smiled and looked at the guy. He still wasn’t moving. Only his chest rose slightly every time he breathed. “I always wanted to be artistic. But I can’t draw and paint and I’m shit at playing instruments. I guess I can sing okay, but definitely not good enough to earn money with it. I really think being a nurse is the best thing for me to do. It’s just because I’m caring. Being a doctor is nothing for me. I don’t like gross wounds that much. I like it better when they’re already fixed and wrapped up,” Louis said.

He was quiet again and looked around the room. It was still empty and very white. He really needed to decorate it.

“Tomorrow the DNA and blood test will come back. I hope we can find your family. But for now you will have to deal with me. I really hope I’m not terrible company. Though you probably would rather have your friends and family here. I wonder what your family is like. I don’t see my family that often. They live quite far away. I moved here because of college. I hope you’re close with your family. Family is really the best thing. They’re the people who support you whatever you choose and love you for whatever you do or want to do. At least, that’s how it’s supposed to be. This morning a girl came in who got beat up by her dad. It’s unbelievable how there are people like that out there.” Louis looked at Curly and still saw no change.

“Apparently depressive talk also won’t wake you up. I’m going to figure out what will. I promise you that,” Louis said and stood up. He turned the radio up a bit more and made sure the blanket was covering Curly.

“Sleep tight, Curly.”

***

Louis walked into the room again and sat down.

“I’m so sorry Curly, there was no DNA match,” Louis said and he really looked distressed. He removed a fallen curl from Curly’s face. “I’m going to search for your family. I’m going to look through all kinds of reports of missing persons, in the hope of finding your face.”

He looked at Curly again and sighed. He was here for a bit over two weeks now. He felt so sorry for the kid. And he thought about how terrible it must be for his family. They had no idea where their son or brother or nephew or maybe even uncle was. They probably wouldn’t get any sleep, thoughts wondering off to him.

“You know what I’m wondering. You got hit by a car on the highway. But they’re almost certain you were unconscious before that. Why would you be unconscious on the side of the highway? Something terrible must have happened. What if you got attacked by someone?”

Louis was quiet again when a terrible memory filled his mind.

“I got attacked once, it was terrifying. I was just out with some friends, was on my way home and four guys just… jumped me. And they hit me and punched me and they kicked me. Luckily there wasn’t any real damage besides a lot of bruises. But still, I thought I was going to die. And what terrified me most was that they did it with a reason. I don’t think I told you this. I’m gay. And don’t ask me how, but they knew it. It was like they could see it, like they could just smell I was gay.”

Louis drew his knees up to his body and rested his feet on the edge of the chair.

“I hope you don’t hate me like they do. I’m human, and I just happen to be a guy who likes other guys. I don’t get how people could hate me for that. It’s my life and they have nothing to do with it. They don’t even know me. So why would they want me dead because of something like that. Because of something they’ve never even witnessed. They’ve never seen me kiss a guy. I’ve never, as they call it, ‘bothered’ them with my sexuality. And what I hate the most of it all, is that the police didn’t find them. They never got punished.”

Louis took a deep breath and wiped a stray tear away.

“I hope that your case really was an accident. It’s just terrible thinking people want to purposely hurt each other. Especially when someone looks like you. You look so nice and sweet and young. Why would anyone ever want to hurt you? It couldn’t be on purpose.”

Louis’ pager went off and he sighed.

“I need to go. Sleep tight, Curly.”

***

“You’re becoming obsessed,” Liam said when they were on their break. They sat in Curly’s room and Louis had his laptop on his lap.

“I’m not,” Louis said and went through another list of missing persons.

“This is the fourth site you’re visiting today. Yesterday you also looked through five sites. Look, if the hospital can’t figure out who he is, than you can’t either. Just let it rest.”

“I can’t,” Louis said and looked at Liam, “There are people who are missing him. Maybe if he hears his mother’s or father’s voice he’ll wake up.”

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” Liam asked.

Louis shook his head, “I won’t rest till he wakes up or till I find his family.”

Liam sighed and stood up, “Sometimes I really worry about you.”

“You shouldn’t. I’m fine, I’m okay.”

“You’re exhausted,” Liam said and looked worried at his friend.

“Yes, but I’m fine. I can still function. I haven’t fainted. I’m eating healthy. I have at least four hours of sleep a night. I’m fine. I know when I need to worry about myself and I’m not at that point yet,” Louis tried to convince Liam.

“Fine, just looking out for you,” Liam said, but wasn’t convinced.

“I know, thanks,” Louis said and smiled. Liam left the room and Louis went back to the page he was looking at. If only he looked closer and with a bit more concentration, he would have seen the picture of a certain curly haired guy. Sighing Louis closed the page and stared at the boy in the bed.

“No luck yet,” Louis said and tucked the boy in.

“I have to go back to work. Sleep tight, Curly.”

***

Weeks went by fast and before Louis knew it, it was two months since Curly had been admitted. Louis was making his first round of the day and was on his way to mister Chester, who surprisingly was still fighting the cancer. The man wouldn’t give up and Louis admired him for it. He was 67 and still wanted to give life everything. Many people would have let cancer win the battle, but not mister Chester.

Louis arrived at the room and knocked on the door. He opened it and saw an empty room. The bed was made and it seemed like no one ever lived in the room. He looked around and noticed all the pictures, drawings and flowers were gone. No, it couldn’t be possible. He escaped the room and went to the receptionist.

“Did… did mister Chester die?” Louis asked and felt his eyes tear up.

The receptionist looked full of sympathy at Louis and nodded, “last night he passed away.”

Louis was quiet and felt a tear roll down his cheek, “Okay. Wow. I… I thought he’d never die, you know. The man just kept fighting.”

“I’m sorry. I know you liked the man,” she said and excused herself as she helped another nurse.

It seemed like Louis world stopped for a second. He died. He couldn’t believe he died. Louis had been working as an intern at the hospital for two years now and one thing that never changed was the presence of mister Chester. He was like a grandfather to Louis. He was the family he missed when he was in London.

Liam was doing his round when he saw a pale Louis clutching the receptionist desk.

“Lou? Are you okay? Did something happen?” Liam said and tried to catch Louis’ eyes. He saw his eyes were starting to get red due to the silent crying he’d been doing.

“Mister Chester died last night,” Louis said softly and bit his lip.

“I’m so sorry, Louis,” Liam said and hugged Louis. He let him cry silently and the tears started to drench Liam’s shirt. He knew how important mister Chester was to Louis. He told him often how the man reminded Louis of home.

“I’m going to see Curly,” Louis said after a minute and wiped his eyes, “I just need some peace and quiet.”

“Sure. I’ll go let the others know you’re not working today.”

Louis nodded thankfully, “You’re the best,” Louis said and smile weakly. He then left to go to Curly’s room.

There weren’t any real improvement. The only thing that could be described as an improvement was that he wasn’t getting worse. And there was a tiny bit of brain activity. He still wasn’t brain dead. That was the only thing that kept Louis hoping he would wake up. His brain worked, he could still wake up. He could open his eyes and everything would be fine. He would be fine.

“You know mister Chester, right? The man with cancer I’ve told you about…” Louis started and pulled up his knees. He rested his tear streaked cheek on his knees.

“He passed away. It just shows how cruel life is. People like him die,” Louis said and took a deep breath.

“I can’t believe he’s gone. I imagine him walking through the door right now saying it’s all a joke. That he was just taking a walk. That he’s alive and well.”

Louis looked at Curly and let his eyes wander over the soft expression on his face. He seemed like he was just sleeping. But it was a _really_ deep sleep he was in.

“Don’t ever leave me. If you die on me, I swear I’ll make you’re afterlife miserable,” Louis said and laughed softly, “Like you’d care. You don’t even know me. I don’t mean a thing to you.”

He sat for another ten minutes in the room. He just stared at Curly’s face. When he felt a bit at peace again he stood up.

“I’m going home, to see if I can get some rest. You Curly, you sleep tight. And don’t die.”

***

It’s been 3 months and 6 days. Exactly. And it’s Louis’ birthday, the day before Christmas. His family has been begging him to come home, but instead of doing that (though he missed his family dearly), he decided to spend it in the hospital with Curly. Like he said, he missed his family. But he wasn’t in the mood for people. He wasn’t in the mood to have a major party to celebrate his 22nd birthday. It wasn’t special.

“I just can’t believe I’m 22 already. The past year went by extremely fast,” Louis said and took a bite of the cupcake Liam baked for his birthday, “I can remember my 21st birthday like it was yesterday.”

He finished the cupcake and collected the crumbles on his shirt to throw it away.

“My mom got extremely pissed when I told her I’d celebrate my birthday here. She said she already invited family and that my sisters were excited to see me. I want to go home, really. I just don’t feel happy enough to go home, you know. I love this job and all, but lately it’s been really depressing me. A lot of people I care about are dying or have died. Like Mister Chester, he’s still on my mind. And that little girl that fell down the stairs, she’s still in a coma. And then you’ve got the teens that have come in that tried to commit suicide. This month only we’ve got nine teens who tried to commit suicide. And two of them actually died. I’m just not in the mood to pretend like I’m happy, to pretend everything’s fine. Because it’s not. And I just want you to fucking wake up, so I can start feeling better!”

Louis quit his rant and noticed he was crying.

“I was not expecting this year to go like this. Deaths never really affected me, because I always thought about all the people that survived and the people who eventually walked out of this hospital. But Liam is right, I attach to people too quickly and too often. And now it’s starting to backfire on me. Usually it’s a good thing; it means you make friends easily. But now… ugh, I wish I didn’t. For example, take you. You don’t even talk to me, you don’t react and I’d still be devastated if you died.”

Louis stared out the window where it started to snow softly.

“Maybe I should quit.”

He noticed the snowflakes started to get bigger and fall faster.

“And just… I don’t know. Do something else with my life. Maybe be a teacher or something. That could maybe work… I don’t know. I think I should take a break from this all. I think the exhaustion is finally taking its toll on me. I should take a long holiday first or something. Just travel around and find my way.”

Louis shuffled his chair closer to Curly’s bed and removed the curls out of his face. His hair was lying around his head like a beautiful halo.

“All these years everything about my life revolved around work. I’ve never even had boyfriend. I had one in sixth form, but that wasn’t serious and I never loved him. I need to think about myself for once, you know. Do what makes _me_ happy and care about _me_ for once.”

He looked at Curly’s face and a small smile formed on his face. The guy looked absolutely beautiful.

“If you only you were awake. And were gay,” Louis said and laughed softly. “Wow, my life must be really pathetic to have a crush on the guy in a coma. What if you’re not even nice? You seem nice, but looks can be deceiving.”

Louis looked outside again and saw the amount of snow coming out of the air was ridiculous.

“My mom was always a great listener. I think I’m going home to celebrate Christmas with my family and talk to my mom. Maybe she’ll know what to do. She always knows what to do.”

Louis stood up and grabbed his jacket, “And if I hurry up I won’t get stuck in traffic. Hopefully.”

He looked down at the boy in the bed and then kissed his forehead softly.

“Merry Christmas, Curly. And sleep tight.”

***

“So you want to quit studying? When you’re halfway through your last year?”

“Mom, I don’t know yet. But I’m definitely not happy right now.”

“Can’t you finish the year and then just take a year off? Don’t throw away all these years studying. It would be a shame,” his mother said and squeezed his hand, “Don’t make any drastic decisions, okay?”

“I won’t. I’ll continue going to my classes and working at my internship. I just don’t want to stress myself out, you know.”

“I know, honey. I don’t want that either. You can always call me if you feel the need to talk to me.”

“I know. I’ve just been kind of preoccupied with someone…” Louis said and played with the sleeve of his sweater.

“You didn’t tell me you had a boyfriend!” his mother smiled and punched his shoulder playfully.

“Mom, I don’t have a boyfriend,” Louis said and bit his lip, “He’s a patient at the hospital. Um… he’s in a coma, has been for three months now. And I’ve just been sitting beside his bed every day because we don’t who he is, so we also don’t know who his family is. And I just feel really bad for him, because he has no one.”

“But he’s in a coma,” his mother said, not understanding why he would spend time with someone who wasn’t even awake.

“I know. But I believe he can hear me,” Louis said, “And he seems cool. I knew you wouldn’t understand.”

“Help me understand then,” his mother said. Her son had always been the ‘weird’ kid and she and many other people never really understood Louis. But she always tried her best.

“I’ve read that talking to people in coma could help them wake up. So I just talk to him. About basically everything. And I don’t know, sometimes it seems like he can hear me. And like he wants to react but just can’t. So I try to wake him up. He’s about 18 or 19. He needs to wake up, he needs to live and you know, not sleep for three months straight. I just feel really bad knowing that there’s nothing I can do. So the least I can do is talk. And that’s what I do. Every day.”

“Oh, Louis. You are way too caring. Don’t be so silly, he won’t know you’re there.”

“But what if he does? What if he wakes up and thanks me for keeping him company? What if I’m the one who’s keeping him alive? They thought he wouldn’t survive his surgery. And he did! And they didn’t think he would make the first weeks he was in a coma, and he did! What if he keeps fighting, because I keep telling him he has something worth fighting for? I could be saving a life here.”

His mother didn’t know how to react to these words. She had never seen her son that passionate. So instead of saying something, she hugged her son. She knew that once he had his mind set, nothing would change it. She accepted it and hoped he was right. Because if he wasn’t, then she was afraid of what might happen to her son.

***

“You don’t happen to know a flower with five letters with the ‘l’ as the third letter,” Louis mumbled as he was making a puzzle.

“Tulip.”

Louis looked up and saw Curly still wasn’t moving. He then looked behind him and saw Liam in the doorway.

“Thanks. And you gave me a heart attack, by the way,” Louis said and filled the word in the boxes.

“If you really had a heart attack then…,” Liam started but Louis interrupted.

“Yeah, I know I know. No reason to go all smart on me,” Louis said and went back to his puzzle.

“I heard you halved your hours,” Liam said and went to sit in the other chair in the room.

“Um, yeah. I worked so much that I have a lot of my internship hours done. So, I don’t have to work as much anymore. And I was getting kind of stressed. Like I said, I can look after myself.”

“Just wanted to say I’m happy you’re going to work less,” Liam said. He then looked at Curly.

“How’s he doing?”

“Um, fine for someone who’s in a coma. They’re going to do a brain activity scan tomorrow to see if everything’s still working.”

“Let’s hope for the best,” Liam said.

“Yeah, let’s. I’m seriously terrified he’s brain dead. That would mean shutting the machines off and letting him die,” Louis said, “And I’m not ready for that.”

“I’m sure he’s not brain dead. I mean, you’re making puzzles with him. Nothing like a good puzzle to tweak a brain.”

“Yeah, about puzzles. What is a 14 line poem called again?”

“Six letters? Then it’s a sonnet,” Liam said and stood up again, “Let me know the result of the scan, okay?”

“Yeah, I will,” Louis smiled and filled in the answer to the puzzle.

“Good,” Liam smiled and left the room.

Louis looked at Curly again, “I’m so scared for tomorrow. Let’s just hope the best. Maybe your brain got even more active. That would be great news. That’s means you’re getting closer to waking up. The doctors say you don’t have a chance, but I know better. I know you can do it. I know you can wake up. But for now, sleep tight, Curly.”

***

Half a year. Six months. Twenty-six weeks. One hundred eighty-two days. That’s how long Curly has been lying in his bed. That’s how long he’d been _asleep._ Louis was starting to lose his mind. It was taking too long and he was starting to lose all faith in Curly. He started to accept he might never wake up again. And that his family would never know the truth.

“I don’t get why you won’t wake up. On the last scan your brain activity improved! You reacted to the music! So just wake the fuck up, because I can’t handle it anymore.”

Still there was no change.

“I know you can hear me!”

Nothing.

Louis pushed his chair angrily. He was starting to get enough. He wanted to go to bed without thinking about the curly haired boy. He wanted to have fun without his thoughts wandering off. He wanted to be free and happy again and not so damn worried all the time.

“I’m sorry Curly, but I’m not going to visit this week again. I need to… I need to live my life again. These past months have all been about you. And I’ve ignored my friends, my family. I need to get out of this hospital, okay? So… I’ll see you next week,” Louis said and left the room. Not a second later he returned.

“And Curly, while I’m gone, sleep tight, okay?”

***

The eight month mark was passed and it was July. Louis was done with his education. In one week the official graduation ceremony would take place. After graduation he would do completely nothing for at least a year. Thanks to all the time he put in his education the last two months, he visited Curly not that much. And he felt bad about it. Especially when the news came that his brain was getting worse.

“I’m so sorry Curly. I was just so busy. And I kind of forgot about you. And there is nothing I can say to make you feel any better about it. Sadly I’m all you have and I left you. You were all alone and apparently the batteries of your radio died, so you didn’t even have music.”

He replaced the batteries and put the radio back.

“But I’m ready to be here 24/7 again. I’m done, I’m completely done with school. And work. I’m just going to be lazy for a whole year. And why not be lazy here, with you,” Louis said and smiled. He grabbed a book out of his bag and started reading with in the background the radio playing.

***  
There was no change in the following month. No change at all. So when Louis walked in, greeting all the nurses and doctors, and went to Curly’s room, he was surprised the see Curly’s bed gone. There weren’t any tests that day, so Louis started to get nervous. What was going on and why was Curly gone? He went to the receptionist to ask about him, when someone approached him.

“Lou, I’m so sorry.”

Louis looked in the direction of the voice and saw Liam. He looked at Louis with pity and Louis didn’t get it.

“What’s going on?” Louis asked, “Why is Curly gone?” He noticed he started to get hysterical. He was confused and he wanted answers.

“He’s in surgery,” Liam started, “There were complications this morning. There was blood coming out of his ear and they think the head trauma was worse than we expected. I’m so sorry, but the chances of surviving are very slim.”

Louis sat down letting the words sink in. Curly was going to die. He was going to leave him. He just wasted eight months of his life on a guy who couldn’t even react to anything he did. And know Curly was going to die. And Louis didn’t even know who he was.

“Go home, Louis. Get some sleep. Because it’s going to be a long day.”

“He can’t die,” Louis mumbled.

“And we’re going to do our best, you know that.”

“Just… don’t let him die,” Louis whimpered and Liam hugged the man to calm him down.

“And remember, whatever happens. You’ll be okay,” Liam said and let go of Louis. He nodded and wiped his eyes.

“Yes, I’ll be okay. I hope. I think.”

Liam squeezed his shoulder and Louis left to go home.

At home he tried to rest and to sleep, because he knew he wouldn’t get any sleep that upcoming night. Whatever the news was on Curly, Louis wouldn’t be able to sleep. He was so worried. He just wanted to help, but there was nothing he could do. He had to put all his faith in the doctors. They were great doctors, Louis knew that, but still he was scared things were going to end horribly.

After lying restlessly in his bed for about four hours he was getting sick and tired of it. He got out, got dressed and went back to the hospital. When he arrived they were still operating on Curly. Louis sighed and sat down.

Half an hour later Louis was tapping his foot on the ground and biting his nails. He was so nervous. He didn’t think he could handle the tension. He needed to know how Curly was doing. There was a noise coming from behind the ER doors and Louis looked up. The door opened and Louis saw Liam.

“And?” Louis asked, standing up. He was completely tense, his body filled with nerves.

“He um... he’s asking for you,” Liam said. He looked surprised. It wasn’t something he’d expected to say. He thought Curly would never hear a thing they said, “He’s asking for Louis from his dreams.”

“What? He’s awake? And asking for me?” Louis said and started to get light in his head. He started to breath faster and Liam had to help him calm down. That was something that was just unbelievable. Louis wondered if maybe he was at home; sleeping and dreaming. Something like that couldn’t happen.

“Breath, just relax and breath,” Liam said and rubbed Louis’ back.

“He’s okay? And… awake?” Louis asked and sat down for a minute.

“Surprisingly, yeah,” Liam said. He saw Louis was still completely shocked. His eyes were wide open and he stared in front of him, eyes focusing on nothing.

“I’ll get you some water,” Liam said and left quickly to come back mere seconds later with a cup of water.

Louis took it and took a sip of it.

“He’s asking for me,” Louis repeated.

Liam nodded, “Yeah, he remembers you. Your talking actually worked.”

“O my…” Louis said and drank the last bit of water, “I can see him?” Louis asked and pointed to the door.

“Yeah, he’s in the first room on the right, they’re getting him ready to bring him back to his room.”

“Okay. Liam, thank you so much,” Louis said, half-smiled at the guy and then left through the doors. He could smell how sterile the ER was. He knocked on the right door and opened it. He walked in and saw the curly haired guy lying in bed. Next to him stood a nurse switching his IV. The guy looked up and Louis could see how tired he looked and how weak he was.

“Are you Louis? From my dreams?” he asked.

Louis swallowed and nodded, “I think so,” he said softly.

The guy looked at him and noticed how far away Louis stood.

“I’m not going to hurt you. I’m too weak to even lift my arm. You can come closer,” the guy said, but it sounded more like mumbling. Louis saw how much breath the guy had to take to say those sentences. His chest was rising and falling fast.

Louis shuffled closer and the nurse left.

“So you’re the guy who’s been keeping me company these past months,” the guy said.

Louis nodded. He honestly didn’t know what to say. He had been talking to the guy for months, but now he was awake. Now he could react. And suddenly he was terrified of what the guy thought.

“Bit your tongue?” the guy asked and tried to look amused, but his muscles were too weak to really nail the expression.

“I’m just shocked you’re awake. And talking,” Louis said and swallowed. He felt his palms started to sweat.

“Yeah. The doctors seemed very surprised about that,” Curly said and closed his eyes, “They say I’ve been in a coma for about eight months.”

“Eight months, three weeks and two days,” Louis said.

Curly opened his eyes slowly and tried to focus on Louis, “Obsessed much?”

“Not really,” Louis said and he saw that Curly closed his eyes again.

“It felt like a couple of days,” Curly then mumbled. A few nurses came in again and they all greeted Louis.

“We’re just going to bring him to his room, don’t worry,” the nurse, Wendy, smiled to Louis. Louis walked behind them as they rolled his bed out of the ER.

After a minute they arrived at his room. Wendy checked his IV again and then left Louis and Curly alone.

“Talk to me,” Curly said with his eyes closed.

“Um,” Louis said and sat down, “I’m Louis.”

“I know that, talk to me about something else,” Curly mumbled.

“I’m glad you didn’t die,” Louis said softly. Curly smirked slightly at that and opened his eyes to look at Louis.

“Well, me too. I just can’t believe,” Curly said and took a deep breath, “that you stayed by my bed all this time.”

“It’s because there was no one else for you,” Louis said, “And about that. I want to contact your family, but we don’t know who you are. So… who are you?”

Curly thought deeply, wrinkles on his forehead to show it.

“I don’t know,” he said.

“You… you don’t?”

Curly shook his head, “I can’t remember. I only remember you.”

Louis felt like crying. Curly woke up, finally, which was a good thing. But he didn’t know a thing about himself. Or anything about his family. The family who’s been missing him for almost nine months.

“Please talk more. I want to hear your voice,” Curly said and Louis could tell he was about to fall asleep.

“This morning when I went to see you your room was empty. And I was afraid you had died. So I asked around and you were in the ER. You were bleeding from your ear, and that’s not a good sign. So they all sent me home to get some sleep. But I couldn’t, because I was terrified for you. I wanted you to survive _so bad_. After four hours of stressing I just came back and stayed here waiting for you. You have no idea how happy I am that you’re here, alive and awake,” Louis said and he noticed Curly fell asleep. He smiled and put the blanket over his body.

“Sleep tight, Curly,” and for the first time he told the boy this with a smile. Because now he was actually asleep, with the prospect of waking up again.

***

Louis himself fell asleep painfully in the chair. When he was woken up by a low, raspy voice he found it all worth it. Louis opened his eyes and stretched and saw Curly was slightly sitting up.

“Morning,” Louis mumbled.

“Afternoon,” Curly corrected and took a sip of water through a straw.

“How are you feeling?” Louis asked as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

“Pretty good,” he said and smiled weakly, “Really tired though and I feel extremely weak.”

“It’s because you’ve been just lying in bed for eternity. Your muscles aren’t used to the work anymore.”

“I know, the doctor told me. Liam right? I remember his voice,” Curly said and softly pushed the tray with the cup of water away. Louis could tell it took him a lot of power to roll the tray 20 centimeters away. “They’re checking me up in a couple of hours and they’re going to set up a rehabilitation plan to train my muscles again.”

“That’s great news,” Louis smiled.

‘Yeah, it is. But there isn’t anything they can do about my memory. They say we just have to wait if it will ever come back.”

“It will. I’m sure it’s somewhere in the back or your mind.”

“I hope so,” Curly said and wanted to lie back down again. He struggled with moving though,

“Here, let me help you,” Louis said and stood up. He helped Curly lift himself and moved him down a bit. He then grabbed the controller of the bed and lowered the head of the bed.

“Need anything else?” Louis asked.

“Yeah, can you turn the radio on? I quite enjoyed listening to music.”

“Sure,” Louis smiled and turned it on.

A song came on immediately that Curly remembered,

_“I'm at a payphone trying to call home_  
 _All of my change I spent on you_  
 _Where have the times gone, baby it's all wrong_  
 _Where are the plans we made for two?”_

“Wow… your voice is amazing,” Louis said, “Especially since it hasn’t been used in over eight months.”

Curly shrugged at the words, “Maybe I was a singer, I don’t know.”

“Maybe. If that is true, then I was right about you being artistic. You just seem artsy,” Louis said.

“And you don’t seem like a nurse at all,” Curly mumbled and closed his eyes again. He concentrated on the music and Louis’ voice.

“I’m not a nurse anymore. At least, not right now. I’m taking a year off,” Louis explained.

“Right, you told me that.”

“It’s okay, I’m sure you didn’t hear everything I’ve told you and that you don’t remember it all. I mean, I told you a lot of bullshit. I honestly don’t blame you.”

“I liked your stories. Your family seems like lovely people, it was nice to hear about university and your embarrassing stories were hilarious.”

“I’m happy I could entertain you,” Louis said and smiled when he saw a small smile on Curly’s face.

A nurse then walked into the room.

“Hey Louis, the patient needs some sleep, so I think it will be better for you to get home and get some rest too,” she said.

“Let him stay,” Curly mumbled.

“Don’t make him any more tired, okay?” she said stern to Louis.

“I won’t,” Louis said. The nurse looked between the two guys and sighed. She then left the room.

‘Tell me about things that happened the past months. Like things that were in the news,” Curly said.

“Um… To be honest I haven’t really kept up to date with the news,” Louis said. His expression became sad when he remembered something that happened, “Something bad did happen. There was a fire at a school and six kids died. It was terrible.”

“Give me happy news,” Curly mumbled.

“I guess some happy news is that some stuff happened with the government and that we’ve got a new government now. They’ve planned to make some big changes. Such as legalizing same-sex marriage, which makes me extremely happy,” Louis said, “But I don’t know if you find that happy news.”

“That is happy news. Same-sex couples should have the exact same right as heterosexual couples,” Curly mumbled, “I mean, why wouldn’t you be able to get married? That’s bull. You’re a nice guy and you deserve happiness like every other person.”

“So you remembered,” Louis said.

“Yeah, I remember. Don’t mind, I think,” Curly said and yawned, “I think I need sleep.”

“Then go to sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up,” Louis said and tucked Curly in.

“Promise?” Curly mumbled.

“Promise,” Louis said softly and soon Curly was fast asleep.

“Sleep tight.”

***

A couple days passed with some progress. Curly had physiotherapy to strengthen his muscles again and he was now able to grab some things and hold it. The doctors were talking about how it was a miracle that he was making that much progress and that he had no brain damage whatsoever.

Louis sat next to Curly and was waiting for him to wake up from his nap again. He wanted to take him outside to the garden. The weather was lovely and maybe some fresh air would do to the guy good. He noticed that Curly started to toss and turn in his bed. It seemed like he had a nightmare. With a soft cry Curly woke up and looked around the room. His face relaxed when he saw Louis.

“Harry,” he mumbled.

“No, I’m Louis,” Louis smiled, confused as to why Curly would call him Harry. Maybe he remembered something? A friend who was called Harry?

“They called me Harry,” Curly said as he shook his head, “It’s my name.”

“Harry?” Louis asked and Curly nodded.

“I dreamt I was in school. They were pushing me around. And called me Harry,” he said, “I think it was a memory.” He closed his eyes and tried to catch his breath again.

“Pushing you around? So… you were bullied in school?” Louis asked.

“I think so,” Harry said and tried to control his breath.

“Harry, I like the name,” Louis smiled, “Though I feel sorry if you were bullied in school.”

Harry lay down and closed his eyes again for short moment.

“They called me fag,” he mumbled, “I think. I don’t know. I’m a bit confused.”

“Just get some sleep, Harry. It’s okay if you don’t know. Everything will come back, I’m sure of that,” Louis said and tucked Harry in.

Harry smiled shyly and snuggled into the blanket.

“Sleep tight, Harry.”

***

“So you only know your first name? Not your surname?” Liam asked as he wrote some things down.

“No. I just dreamt it, so I don’t even know if it’s really a memory,” Harry said.

“All right,” Liam said and put the file down, “Let’s get you to physiotherapy,” Liam said as he rolled Harry’s wheelchair to the other department.

“Are you good friends with Louis?” Harry then asked.

“Um, I think so, yeah,” Liam said.

“How he acts… is that normal for him? Caring and you know… sitting beside someone’s bed for eight months?” Harry asked and fidgeted with his shirt.

“Well. He is caring. And he sometimes visits patients. But in the three years I know him I’ve never seen him get that attached to someone. He visited you every day if he could. He would get mad if he had college and couldn’t visit you. He tried a lot to wake you up… and I think he was about to lose it when you were in surgery. So, for him it’s sort of normal, I guess. But you’re special to him,” Liam said as he pressed the elevator button.

A small smile formed on Harry’s face. It felt good that he was special to Louis. The doors opened and Liam rolled Harry’s wheelchair into the elevator.

“I think he likes you,” Liam then said softly. The elevator doors closed and they were all alone. “I think he ‘like’ likes you.”

“Like a crush?” Harry asked.

“Yeah. But… he doesn’t know you. And you don’t even know you. I think he likes the image he has of you. An image that isn’t true, because he has barely spoken with you. Well, the real you anyway.”

The doors of the elevator opened and Liam rolled Harry out.

“You’ve got therapy for an hour. A nurse will pick you up after and then you’ll get lunch,” Liam explained.

“Alright,” Harry said and they entered the therapy room.

“Hello Harry, are you ready to put your muscles to work?” the doctor asked. He felt Liam squeeze his shoulder as he left the room.

“I guess so,” Harry said.

***

Louis sat at a table with Harry in the living room area of Harry’s department.

“They said you’re almost ready to go home,” Louis said as Harry was trying to make a Sudoku puzzle.

“I’ve got no home. At least, I don’t know where it is,” Harry said, “And I still can’t remember a thing.”

“Yeah. But they said that besides that you’re healthy. You can use your muscles again, though you still need therapy, you’re training your brain with puzzles and your head is okay. Your memory will come back. They’re almost certain of that,” Louis said and smiled when he saw Harry finished the puzzle.

“Yeah. But I still don’t have a home.”

“You can stay with me?” Louis asked.

Harry looked up, “You’d want that?”

“Yes, it’s the least I can do. And if things do go bad, which they won’t, I’m a nurse so I can help,” Louis said.

“I need physiotherapy every day,” Harry said, trying to find a reason to say no. He didn’t know why he was looking for a reason. He liked Louis, but maybe it was because of Liam’s words he was hearing in the back of his head. _I think he ‘like’ likes you._

“And I had some practice in that. I can help with walking and I can throw a ball to help you with your arm muscles. We can do puzzles to train your brain. I can help trigger your brain to remember things.”

“Would you really go to all that trouble for me?” Harry asked.

“Yes,” Louis smiled, “Yes I would. Because you deserve to live again. You’ve already missed too much and I’m not going to let you sit in the hospital any longer.”

“Okay, fine,” Harry smiled shyly.

“Good, then I’ll go to the desk to sign some papers. You’re coming home with me tonight,” Louis smiled excitedly and stood up.

“Do you like red or blue better?” Louis asked before he left.

“Um… red, I guess,” Harry said, confused why the question was asked.

“Alrighty,” Louis smile, “I’ll be back in a couple of hours to pick you up.”

***

Louis entered his apartment and pushed Harry, who was sitting in his wheelchair, in the hallway.

“This is it. My home,” Louis said and closed the door. He rolled Harry further in and Harry looked around the living room.

“I tried to clean up, but as you can tell I’m not that good at it. I just live like an animal, I guess,” Louis said. Harry pushed himself forward a bit and saw the small table in front of the couch was filled with magazines and papers.

“Yeah, um… they’re medical stuff, not really important,” Louis said and tried to hide it.

“Wait,” Harry said and got closer. He grabbed one of the papers and saw it was an article about a guy who was in a coma a couple of years ago.

“I was just… you know… doing research and stuff,” Louis said and rubbed his neck.

“Ahw, how nice,” Harry smiled and looked around the room. He then saw a cabinet which had pictures on it. He rolled slowly to it and looked at them.

“They’re family. And some friends,” Louis said, “As you know I like people. So, yeah. I have a lot of pictures.”

“Are they your sisters?” Harry asked and grabbed the picture of four girls.

“Yeah,” Louis said and watched Harry smile at the picture.

“I wonder what my family is like,” Harry mumbled.

“They must be amazing people, because you are an amazing person,” Louis said and noticed the faint blush on Harry’s cheek. He put the photo back and turned the wheelchair around.

“So where do I sleep?” he changed subjects.

“You are luckily enough to stay in the luxury of my room. I’ll stay in the guestroom,” Louis said and walked in front of Harry through the little hallway to the two rooms.

“What? No, I won’t take your room,” Harry protested.

“You’ll have to. Because I don’t think you will fit in the guestroom with the wheelchair. Once you can walk again without any help I’ll let you stay in the guestroom. Until then, you stay in my room,” Louis said, “I even cleaned it for you.”

“Like you cleaned the living room?” Harry asked.

“No, I actually cleaned it. With the vacuum cleaner, I dusted off everything, I changed the sheets and put everything in the other closet, so you have some space here,” Louis said.

“For what? I don’t have clothes or anything. I have completely nothing,” Harry said.

“We’ll buy stuff. Really, it’s not that big of a deal. Don’t reject everything I offer. I want to give you clothes and a place to stay. So just take it!”

“Alright, alright. I accept,” Harry smiled and he rolled into the room. “But then you shouldn’t reject my offer of helping with everything around the house.”

“Oh, I won’t. Part of your physiotherapy will be helping with the chores,” Louis said.

“Okay,” Harry said and he looked around the room, “It looks cool,” Harry smiled. He noticed the bed sheets where red and he decorated the room with some red features. That explains the question about the color.

“It’s because it is,” Louis said and sat down on the bed. “Are you really okay with staying here? I’ll take you back to the hospital if you really don’t want to. We can enroll you into a care home or something,” Louis said and looked seriously at Harry. He only wanted to best for him and if he wasn’t okay with staying with Louis, then he should say so.

“No, it’s okay. I’m glad you invited me stay here. It really means a lot to me. You are the only person I have, so thank you.”

Louis smiled and stood up. He gave Harry a hug and felt his arms wrap around him weakly.

“I don’t know what I would do without you,” Harry mumbled and Louis felt a warm feeling inside of him. He let go of Harry and smiled down at him.

“Why don’t you just make yourself at home, I’ll make some dinner, okay? I’m not the best cook, but I hope it will be better than the hospital food!”

“I’m sure it will be great,” Harry smiled and watched as Louis left the room. Now all he had to do was make himself feel at home.

***

Harry was walking through the living room with a walker while Louis was shooting questions at him.  
“What is 4 times 7?” Louis asked.

“What is the point of this?” Harry asked.

“Answer the question!”

Harry sighed and answered, “It’s 28.”

“That’s right,” Louis said. Harry stopped walking and sat down on the chair.

“I’m tired. What was the point of the walking and the questions?” Harry asked.

“Training your muscles and training your brain. And doing that at the same time helps you learn how to multitask again,” Louis said.

Louis noticed Harry’s eyes closed.

“You want to take a nap?” Louis asked.

Harry nodded, “I’m exhausted.”

“Alright, let me get your wheelchair, I’ll help you to your room,” Louis said.

“No, I’ll walk. I need the practice, right?” Harry said and opened his eyes again. He stood up using the walker and slowly walked to his room. Louis walked behind him in case his legs got tired and he’d fall.

“I’m fine, really,” Harry said, but secretly enjoyed the protectiveness Louis showed.

“I know you are,” Louis said and watched Harry sit down on the bed, “But I just want to make sure.”

Harry smiled at him, “You know. I think I’m really doing better. Like, I can walk for a longer amount of time, I can lift heavier stuff, I can stay awake longer, I can think faster and I got really hazy memories.”

“You got memories?” Louis asked and sat down next to him. Harry never mentioned anything to him about memories.

“Yeah, but like I said, really hazy,” Harry said.

“What do you remember?” Louis asked.

“A house. A big house. And a swing set. And a pool. But I can’t really place it. I think it used to be my home,” Harry said, “And I had a dream about a performance or something. Like on a stage and with a view of a lot of people.”

“So, you lived in a big house and you performed once or maybe more often,” Louis concluded.

“Or not. It could just be a dream with no meaning.”

“Or it could really mean something. What if you were like an artist? A lot of people would miss you if there was the case,” Louis said, “You need to try to remember more, okay? If we can get your whole name we can find your family! It’s been my goal for over nine months to find your family.”

“We will find them,” Harry said, “I think I heard my name in the dream. But I’m not sure. It’s Harry… and something with an ‘s’. I don’t know,” Harry said and thought, “S… um… st… ste… sti…”

“You will remember, I’m sure of that,” Louis said and stood up.

“Styles,” Harry said softly and looked up, “Harry Styles.”

“You sure?”

Harry nodded, “Yes,” he smiled, “it sounds so familiar. Like, it’s my name. Harry Styles.”

“Okay, great,” Louis smiled and gave him a quick hug, “Wow, your memory is actually getting back. I’ll look you up online and see what I can find, okay?”

Harry nodded and lay down in bed. Louis left the room and sat down in the living room in front of his laptop. He opened internet and googled ‘Harry Styles’. One of the first hits was a website called findharrystyles.org.

He opened it and saw a picture of the curly haired guy. O my god, he actually remembered his name! He read the message beneath the picture.

**_On September 17 th 2013 we saw our beloved son and friend for the last time. He was in Manchester for university, but disappeared late at night. He told his friends he would be back later, but he never returned. He just started his study at Royal Northern College of Music and he was looking forward to it all summer. Though the moment he started the study, the complaints began. We believe he wasn’t happy and really hope he didn’t take his own life. Please if you hear anything from him or see him, let us know. We are really worried and just want to see him again._ **

**_His name is Harry Styles and at time of disappearance he was 19 years old. His birthday is on February 1 st. He’s got curly hair which he likes to grow out, so it could be longer as the months progress. He has green eyes and dimples when he smiles. At the night of disappearance he wore dark jeans, a dark red shirt and he wore white converse. He might have taken his bag along, a black sports bag, because the bag can’t be found at his apartment. We think he planned on leaving Manchester and his school._ **

**_If you see him, please contact us. We are starting to get desperate._ **

**_His mother, Anne Cox_ **

Below it he saw an address and phone number. He grabbed his phone and called the number. He heard it ring and a tired voice answered.

“Hello?”

“Hello. Am I speaking with Anne Cox?” Louis asked.

“Yes, this is her. Who is this?” she asked. Louis could tell she tried to sound more alive, but she failed miserably. Louis could hear how weak her voice was.

“You’re speaking with Louis Tomlinson. I hope you’re sitting, because I’ve got something to tell you.”

“I am sitting. Has this to do with Harry?” she asks, her voice sounding hopeful.

“Yes,” Louis said and couldn’t help but smile, “He’s in my house. He’s okay and he’s safe.”

“O my god. Really?” she said and he could hear she started crying softly. “I lost hope at the start of this year. There were no signs and police said he probably ran away and we were so scared he took his own life. Thank god he’s okay.”

“Yes, well… he’s not really okay. I worked as a nurse at St. Thomas hospital in London. He was brought in unconscious and he was in a coma for over eight months. They thought he wouldn’t make it, but he woke up eventually, but with no memory. We’ve been training his muscles, because they were really weak, and we’ve been training his brain. And slowly he remembers some things, but in a real haze so he doubts his memories. Today he remembered his name and I immediately looked it up.”

“What? He was in a coma?”

“Yeah. He got hit a by a car, but something most likely happened before that, because the head trauma he had couldn’t be caused only by the car accident.”

“Had he stuff with him? Because he’d always take his phone or wallet,” she said, “Or maybe not. If he didn’t want to be found.”

“We found nothing on him. That’s why it took so long to contact you. He had no ID on him, so we didn’t know where to start looking. I’ve tried my best, looked through a lot of sites with missing persons, but there were so many.”

“Have you been looking for me since he got admitted?” she asked surprised.

“Yes, and I stayed by his bed almost every day,” Louis said and smiled sadly.

“You really did that? Thank you for that. I’m happy he got such an amazing person beside his bed.”

“Thank you, it means a lot to hear that. If I give you my address, will you be able to visit soon? I hope that maybe seeing you will trigger his memory,” Louis asked.

“You live in London, right?”

“Yes, in Nunhead,” Louis answered.

“I don’t know, it’s quite the drive and I need to get off from work. Can’t I talk to him right now?”

“He’s asleep. He was really tired after the physiotherapy. He walked for half an hour with the walker and while he was walking we did some math to train his brain. He was exhausted so he’s taking a nap right now.”

“Okay, I will visit in a couple of days. Just need to sort things out. Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome,” Louis smiled and Anne hung up.

Louis stood up and walked back to the bedroom. He opened the door and smiled when he saw Harry completely wrapped up in the blanket. He wanted to close the door again when he heard Harry mumble something.

“Stay.”

“What?” Louis whispered.

“Please stay. I want to snuggle,” Harry mumbled and opened his eyes again, “I’m cold and I need someone to keep me warm and comfort me.”

“How can you be cold? It’s 20 degrees in here!” Louis said, but stepped into the room nonetheless.

“I just am,” Harry said and pouted. Louis took off his jeans and sat down on edge of the bed.

“I found your mom,” Louis then said.

“You… what? My mom?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, she’s happy you’re okay.”

“Is she going to visit?” he asked hopefully, trying to sit up quickly.

“Just lay back down,” Louis said and gently pushed him down again. He lay next to him and wrapped his arms around him. Harry immediately snuggled into his chest. “She will visit sometime this week. She has to see if she can get a day off from work.”

“My mom…” Harry mumbled, “I can’t remember her.”

“Maybe you will once you see her,” Louis said. He could hear Harry’s breath slow down and after a couple of minutes he was asleep. He looked at the clock and saw it was 3 pm. He had a couple of things he needed to do, but taking a nap with Harry wrapped in his arms sounded like a really good idea. Louis closed his eyes and fell asleep to the sound of Harry’s soft breath and his heart beating against his.

***

Louis nervously straightened his shirt and opened the door. A brunette woman stood in the doorway with a watery smile.

“I promised not to cry, but I just couldn’t help myself,” she explained when she saw Louis looking worried at her. “And hi, I’m Anne.”

“Louis,” he said and shook Anne’s hand, “And it’s okay. I get that your emotions will be all over the place.”  
“Is he awake?” she asked as Louis let her in.

“Yes. He is making tea actually,” Louis said, “he can stand long enough and he can actually lift the kettle and hold it. So he insisted on making tea.”

“Great, that’s great,” Anne smiled. They walked into the living room and Louis told Anne to sit down. He then went into the kitchen and saw Harry standing there, staring off into space.

“Nervous?” Louis asked.

“Yeah, but I don’t know what for. I don’t even remember her…”

“It will be okay,” Louis said and hugged Harry to calm him down. He let him go again and looked at Harry, “Should I bring the tea?”

“Yeah, let’s do that. I might drop it,” Harry said and Louis grabbed the tray.

“Take your time, okay?” Louis said and Harry nodded. Louis left the kitchen and saw Anne fidgeting nervously.

“He’ll be right out,” Louis said and put the tray down. He gave Anne a cup of tea and she smiled thankfully.  
“Does he remember anything?” she then asked.

Louis shook his head, “He got a couple of vague memories, but none of them involve you. He does remember his old house. A big building with a swing set and a pool.”

“Yes, I guess that’s our house,” Anne smiled.

A soft sound made both of them look up and Harry appeared in the living room. He looked at the woman and then shook his head with a shy smile, feeling bad for not remembering her.

“Harry,” she said and stood up.

“Hi,” he said. She walked to him and looked him up and down.

“You’re alive,” she said and took him in her arms. He softly wrapped his arms around her.

“I am,” he said.

His mother wiped away a stray tear as she let go of him, “I missed you so much. I had given up all hope.”

“Thanks to Louis I’m still alive,” Harry said and looked at the male nurse.

“That’s not true,” Louis said, not wanting to take all credit. Harry was alive thanks to the doctors.

“I kept fighting because of his voice. I wanted to talk to him. It felt like a couple of days, but apparently I was fighting for months.”

“Louis, I don’t think I can thank you enough for saving my son,” Anne said.

“I really didn’t, though,” Louis said.

“For me you did, for me you are hero,” Anne smiled and also took Louis in her arms.

“Well, thank you, then,” Louis said and looked at Harry behind Anne and saw he was laughing soundlessly. Probably because of the pained expression Louis was showing. Anne really liked to hug people _tightly._

“How about we take a little walk outside and talk? Harry still needs to do his physiotherapy for today,” Louis said.

“I don’t,” Harry said.

“Yes, you do. Come on, we need to train your legs! Otherwise you can never leave my place!”

He saw Harry looking at him sadly. The thing was, Harry didn’t want to leave. He enjoyed staying at Louis and he enjoyed his company.

***

“So, what do you remember?” Louis asked.

“Um… I packed my bag to leave. I wanted to get out of Manchester. I’m not really sure why yet. I wanted to go home, but eventually left to go to London. It was getting really dark when I arrived and I was walking down the road to find a cheap place to stay. And that’s when I got attacked. I think they stole all my stuff. I think that’s why they attacked me in the first place.”

“So that explains why you were unconscious on the side of the road before the car hit you,” Louis said.

Harry nodded, “Yeah. I think so.”

“Anything else?” Louis asked.

“Um… I remember the performance again. I think,” Harry said, “I think it was a school talent show.”

“Good, okay. Anything else that came back?” Louis asked.

Harry shuffled with his feet, “I think I was seeing somebody.”

“You had a girlfriend?” Louis asked softly.

“I don’t know. I have this nagging feeling I was in a relationship. Like, I’m forgetting someone. I don’t know, it sounds weird, I guess,” Harry said and stood up. He slowly walked to his room mumbling he was going to take a nap.

Louis looked at his fingers and played a bit with them. He actually felt really bad hearing Harry was in a relationship. He was falling badly for him and he knew that. He just thought he had a chance. But Harry was slowly remembering some things and if he did have a girlfriend Louis had no chance whatsoever.

***

“Today has been a year that I know you,” Louis started and looked at Harry across the table, “God, I can’t believe it’s been a year since you were brought in the hospital.”

“I can’t either. Because it really feels like I’ve missed the whole year. Which I basically did. I mean, I have missed my birthday! I’m 20, but I still feel 19.”

“Well, that’s just normal, I guess. Because I seriously don’t feel 22,” Louis laughed softly, “So you remember almost everything now, don’t you.”

“Yeah, I guess a lot came back,” Harry said and played with his pasta, “Like, remember how I said I thought I was in a relationship?”

Louis nodded as he took a sip of his wine.

“Well, I was,” Harry said and Louis sat his glass down again, avoiding Louis’ eyes, “But I left that person when I left Manchester that night.”

“So… you broke up with her?” Louis asked.

“Yes,” Harry smiled, “The relationship was suffocating me, so it’s one of the reasons I left. And I really didn’t like the school and the teachers and my roommates. It wasn’t what I expected. And on top of that I had a crappy relationship. So I left. And wanted to go home, but was afraid my family would be disappointed. So I went to London.”

“You probably think that was the worst idea ever,” Louis said.

“No,” Harry said.

“No?”

“No, because I met you. It was the best thing that could have happened to me,” Harry smiled, “I want to stay here, if you’d like that. I want to live here, with you. And maybe perform or something. Or study Sociology. I think I’d like that.”

“Sociology?” Louis asked.

“Yeah, I’ve been looking through some courses they have here in London,” Harry said, “They have a Sociology study that also focuses on creative subjects. So I can take Music culture and English literature and things like that. I think I’d like that. And then I can stay here, with you, and go to University.”

“You’d really want to stay here with me?” Louis asked.

Harry nodded, “Yeah, I like you a lot. And I’m happy here. And I thought maybe we could be happy together. Just the two of us. Would you like that?”

“Would I like that? I’d love that!” Louis said and stood up. He walked over to Harry. He squatted a bit so he was eye to eye with Harry, “I like you so much and I honestly can’t even think of spending a day without you. You mean a lot to me and I’d never wish the memories of the past year away.”

“So, we’re officially moving in together then?” Harry asked.

“Well, technically we’ve been living together for almost three months now, but sure. If you want to officially move in, than you go and do that,” Louis smiled.

“Okay, and one more thing,” Harry said. He leaned in and his lips touched Louis’ for the first time.

“Thank you,” Harry smiled, “For everything.”

“You’re welcome, Curly,” Louis said and hugged Harry.

He was looking forward to the prospect of waking Harry up every single day for the rest of his life.


End file.
